Forum Activity for @robin-thompson

Merry Christmas Rod

It doesn't seem like 3 years.

Dave

Bobby, that's a beautiful thought.

Gone but never forgotten.

Just about two years ago I returned home from hospital after heart surgery to find a package from Rod, his book ! Plus the news that he was no longer with us ! I miss him, for his forbearance , infinate patience, and willingness to guide !!! On here and on 'Paltalk', he helped me (my abysmal knowledge of things 'computer' is long standing) and in the early days of this treasure that is FOTMD he was a presence ! As Lisa has said, always remembered !

JohnH

Every Christmas day I envision Rod playing his dulcimers and sharing his knowledge and wonderful enthusiasm with others. 'Deputy Mo', we will always remember you so fondly!

Rod was the first to welcome me to FOTMD and he embraced me as though we were old friends.

Merry Christmas, Rod.

I hope Rod's family feels comfort today.

Rest in peace, Rod. We miss you, friend.

Merry Christmas Rod

Dave

Thanks Linda

The older I get the faster they get.I didn't know Rod for very long either, but I started learning aboutSacred Harp tunes from him in the short time I knew him.I learned one of the Sacred Harpsongs he used to play and I'm working on some others. Time flies.

Dana R. McCall said:

So hard to believe it has been a year already. For the short time I knew him he was such a sweet man.

Dave,

Thank you so much, this is beautiful.He was such a great Christian first, parent second and musician 3rd. How many of us can say the same. Perfect thanks. LB

So hard to believe it has been a year already. For the short time I knew him he was such a sweet man.

Thanks Wayne

Rod was very much active in the dulcimer community but provided good example for us all to follow.

Merry Christmas

Dave

Thanks Dusty

Thanks John

Merry Christmas

Dave

Thanks Lisa

I have been thinking about posting something for Rod for the last couple of weeks but nothing was coming to me. Some of the players on Paltalk this last Tuesday played something for Rod but I didn't have anything prepared. I had some time this morning and after I found the video I had a creative moment. I felt I should post it tomorrow but ...

Merry Christmas

Dave

Thanks Dave, I for one will always remember

John

Nice tribute to Rod. I can't believe it's been a year.

Peace to one and all.

Dave, thank you so much for posting this wonderful tribute thread. What a beautiful tune you play for him.

Many of us have been thinking of Rod these past few days especially. He poured so much love into 'the family' here on fotmd. I feel like "Depity Mo" will be watching over our site of Friends tomorrow on Christmas day, with his silver bullet in his pocket... just in case.

Thanks Robin

After watching the video this morning, I picked up my dulcimer and that's what happened. Rod was also one of the main players on our Tuesday Paltalk sessions. The Tuesday before Christmas last year he and I were doing most of the playing and it seemed nothing was out of place with him.

Merry Christmas

Dave

Dave,

Thanks for your lovely musical tribute to Rod. I'm also glad you posted the YouTube link to his daughter's tribute-- it's so touching. It surely was a shock last Christmas Day to learn of Rod's death. I remember Rod with great fondness. And he was our own dear Deputy Mo.

Blessings to you & yours!

Robin

Merry Christmas Rod

We miss you

We remember you

Dave

And as an even further complication, neither can I count! The bouzouki has two (that's 2) courses tuned an octave apart, namely those that I tune as G and D in GDAE that's the twocourses which have wound strings. It's the heat that does it, we haven't had rain here in England for at least a day, my brain is turning to mush!

Ben Ramage said:

At risk of oversimplification, an octave mandolin is a big bodied mandolin (called a mandola in the UK) that is tuned an octave below a mandolin, all courses being in unison. I tune mine GDAe. An Irish bouzouki is an offshoot of the Greek bouzouki, it may, but need not be round bowled. Mine is guitar bodied. Scale length may vary between 580 mm and 600mm. It has the bass courses tuned an octave apart, not in unison. My bouzouki is gG DD AAee (if you take my drift), others tune theirs GDAd or ADAd. To complicate matters some Irish bouzouki players tune all string courses in unison the same as a mandola. I am not an expert on it I tend to use it as the mandolin equivalent of a 12 string guitar (hence the guitar body).

And to complicate things even further, yes that is a 5 string banjo I am holding in the photo!

At risk of oversimplification, an octave mandolin is a big bodied mandolin (called a mandola in the UK) that is tuned an octave below a mandolin, all courses being in unison. I tune mine GDAe. An Irish bouzouki is an offshoot of the Greek bouzouki, it may, but need not be round bowled. Mine is guitar bodied. Scale length may vary between 580 mm and 600mm. It has the bass courses tuned an octave apart, not in unison. My bouzouki is gG DD AAee (if you take my drift), others tune theirs GDAd or ADAd. To complicate matters some Irish bouzouki players tune all string courses in unison the same as a mandola. I am not an expert on it I tend to use it as the mandolin equivalent of a 12 string guitar (hence the guitar body).

And to complicate things even further, yes that is a 5 string banjo I am holding in the photo!

Bynum that's so cool! You should post pictures of it here!

there is a stanly banjo and dulcimer just listed on craigs list in boone, nc asking for offers

I think Susan Trump has a fretless banjo made by Stanley Hicks, and i believe she knew him personally. You coudl try to contact her via her website.

Nina

Cyndi - you might want to read my Blog article called I Just Got A Dulcimer - Now What? It's an illustrated glossary plus information on tuning, playing, care and feeding of the dulcimer.

Hi Cindi - type of strings has nothing to do with make or tone of dulcimer. You need to know the VSL(25", 27", 29") and the keynote you want to tune to (C, D,G etc), Buy dulcimer strings unless you can't find them, In general any set of strings with .010 to .012 melody and middle drones and a .020 to .024 wound bass string will do just fine for most average VSLs and tunings.

I actually went to a concert of Aubrey and Elwood's a couple of weeks ago (very fortunate that they were playing only 30 minutes away!) and I bought yet another limberjack from her for my limberjack 'collection' of about a dozen.

They are such fun... especially when everyone at the jam is playing in a key that you don't want to touch with a ten foot pole!....lol! Just take out yer little dancing man and watch the fun begin.

Thanks Wayne. I have seen Aubrey Atwater play one a couple of times, but didn't know what it was called.

Ben

Once again, thanks to all of your replies...it really helps, although, it's going to take this musically challenged dulcimer player a while to learn some of the valuable information that you have provided.

I have discovered that part of my problem is that I am playing in a country jam and they tend to play in a particular rhythm that throws me totally off. I go up to take my turn and even though I know my song well, I hear their rhythm and I can't shake it out of my head.

I did have the good fortune to play this past week and it did happen yet once again. But a gentleman who has often encountered the same thing recognized that it was happening to me while I was playing "Blowin' in the Wind" and he came to within earshot of me and got me into the right rhythm with his mandolin.

I will have to display my ignorance here Strumelia as I haven't heard of a "limberjack".

Ben, it's challenging to play in a large group with lots of different instruments, especially when there are singer-songwriter guitar players singing songs in different keys every time. Diane had some particularly useful advice I think.

I play more often in old-time fiddle jams with banjos and that makes a big difference- they stay in one key for a good half hour or an hour or sometimes even longer. That gives plenty of time to retune when a key change is announced. Even then, i like to bring two dulcimers- one for C and D, the other for G and A. They fit in a double dulcimer gigbag.

Occasionally we go to places where I know it's going to be really difficult for me to play along, for one reason or another. That's when I bring a limberjack and it's always fun to 'play' ...and just about everyone likes limberjacks.

Benjamin,

If you happen to have a dulcimer with a 6-1/2 fret, you can tune the strings all to D-- either Ddd or go with all light strings and tune ddd-- and you're set for the key of D (tonic open) and the key of G (tonic at 3) without re-tuning.

Some tuners that clip on work well in a noisy setting.

Perhaps the one thing that I failed to mention is that in this particular setting, it would be nigh impossible for me to change my tuning as there is too much noise (well, music and sound is probably a better description) going on and my tuner won't know what to tune the strings to.

Benjamin,

My main dulcimer has no 6-1/2 fret. I use DAA as my home base tuning. For A tunes, I put a false nut under the bass string at the first fret-- a quick way to change tuning to EAA. For G tunes, I go to DGG. Some tunes won't lay-out right in these tunings, so I can either sit them out or just play some basic back-up rhythms.

Thanks to all of you who have responded to my question. It is helpful. The particular dulcimer that I have been bringing to the jam doesn't have the 6 1/2 fret. I bring this one for two reasons: It is the one that I seem to play the most (my first one) and it has a case. I like your responses and will have to see if I can improve my playing in the jam while experimenting with your suggestions. Thanks again. Ben

Benjamin,

You can play rhythm when playing back-up. I love to do this in a jam! And it's fun to get creative with rhythms. Since the dulcimer isn't loud, you can experiment. . .

Yes Dana, but you would also be in different modes by using a capo- you'd be in E minor with the capo on 1, and you'd be in A Dorian (another minor-sounding mode) if you capo on 4. So if the jam is playing in the 'normal' key of A (not in A minor for example), you can't just slap a capo on the 4th fret and play along in A- you'd sound too minor, your fret pattern would be laid out for Dorian mode there at the 4th fret. Same thing happens when you put the capo on fret 1 for key of E- it will be E aeolian, a minor sound. That may clash badly with (chromatic) guitar players capoed to E and playing in a major sound.

The capo solution works well for going to G by capoing DAd on the 3rd fret- only because you were likely playing in ionian from DAd anyway, by using the 6.5 fret for most tunes. Placing the capo on 3 again produces the ionian mode, for G. So there is no noticeable mode change in that instance.

That is if you are tuned to Dad